Whilst we have high hopes of holding an in-person AGM/Members’ Assembly later this year, this one was once again held on Zoom. We were joined by staff, volunteers, our Board of Directors, and of course you – our members. Ryan McCuaig, the Chair of the Board, highlighted some of the key events that occurred from April 2020 to March 2021.
April 2020 – March 2021
- COVID-19 hits and the world went into lockdown
- Who Cares? Scotland creates a crisis helpline and delivers support to an unprecedented number of Care Experienced people
- Held our first ever Digital Festival
- We rebranded and created our new logo to better reflect our values and the diversity of the Care Experienced community
- We moved our National Office (no easy feat in the middle of lockdown!)
- We welcomed our new CEO, Louise Hunter
Fiona Donaldson, our Director of Finance, then reviewed the organisations accounts and reported that our income increased to £5.2m.
We then had two special resolutions to ask our members to vote on.
- Approve the changes made to the constitution at the previous AGM on 27.02.21.
- Approve a change to the constitution that will allow us to provide independent advocacy for the brothers and sisters of children and young people subject to formal processes.
Members voted and both resolutions passed.
Two long standing board members, Alicia Santana and Euan Haggerty, were re-elected to the board by unanimous vote. Then we said goodbye to two of our most beloved board members, Sarah-Jane Linton who has been on the board since 2015 and according to Ryan McCuaig has been like the “board maw” and Megan Moffat, who may no longer be our Vice-Chair but will no doubt still be seen in and around the national office and at all things Who Cares, along with her side-kick Martha the dog.
Having completed the official business of the AGM, we then had the chance to meet and hear from our newly formed Senior Management Team – Louise Hunter, CEO, Carly Elliott, Director of Influencing, Denny Ford, Director of Advocacy and Participation, Fiona Donaldson, Director of Finance and Marie-Claire Jones, Director of Fundraising and Communications. Marie-Claire has been on maternity leave for most of the last year, but is excited to be returning to work! We also had an update from our Impact Measurement Manager, Donna Nicholas and wonderful volunteer Jim on the development of our next strategic plan. Keep an eye out for ways you can get involved with that in the coming months.
We can’t wait to see you in person in October for our next AGM and the launch of the new strategic plan during Care Experienced Week!
